In late January, Canadian distributor Ficodis Group announced the acquisition of Tytan Glove & Safety, a provider of PPE and safety solutions based in Guelph, Ontario. Tytan provides hand protection, safety apparel, respiratory protection and other products and equipment from distribution hubs in Ontario and Alberta.
While the deal was the first health and safety-focused acquisition for Ficodis Group in more than five years, company officials say that it’s part of a larger strategy — one that’s focused on product segment diversity and, also, geography: Ficodis says strengthening its logistics network in Canada is a core objective.
Ficodis Group – part of the Descours & Cabaud Group, whose North American division ranked at no. 29 on the 2025 ID Big 50 List – was founded in 2010 in Montreal. Today, the firm offers 49 specialized companies across categories like fasteners, safety, tools, mechanical transmission and fluid power, and cutting tools. Outside of its breadth of product, Ficodis focuses on services and expertise in managing its customer base in Canada and the northeastern U.S. At the time of the acquisition announcement, Christophe Bévillard, the president of Ficodis and managing director of Descours & Cabaud North America, said the addition “strengthens our logistics network and deepens our health and safety portfolio.”
Ficodis’ last health and safety-focused addition was the 2020 acquisition of Mackenzie Milne, now known as Mackenzie Industrial & Safety. Ficodis says the decision to purchase Tytan “reinforces key strategic partnerships,” like its exclusive Canadian distribution agreement with well-known PPE brand Magid — not to mention its more than 5,000 customers across Canada.
Industrial Distribution recently spoke with Christophe Bévillard to learn more about how Tytan fits within the larger goals of Ficodis Group, as well as what we can expect to see from the company in the future.
Industrial Distribution: I’d like to know what appealed to you about Tytan Glove and Safety and how that speaks to your company’s larger aspirations in the safety segment overall?
Christophe Bévillard: It’s included in our growth plan to acquire safety specialists, and so we approached Tytan a few months ago, as it’s a well-known company on PPE and safety stuff, especially in Ontario, in the Greater Toronto area, but also from coast to coast in Canada — very strong in Quebec, Ontario and the West of Canada. So that was the occasion for us to acquire a specialized company with nationwide opportunities to grow with many customers everywhere.
ID: Can you tell us a little bit more about your general acquisition strategy? Is there a specific company type that you’re looking for or a specific feature about a company that makes it more appealing to you?
Also, when we acquired companies, we retained the name as we retained the previous owners in their positions. We also retain the company culture, and that’s very important for us.
And, for sure, we acquired a profitable company that could fit exactly with the other companies in the same area, because a big part of our strategy is based on cross-selling between the different specialized companies in the group. So for example, in the Greater Toronto area, we have different specialized companies: one in safety now, one in tools, one in bearing and power transmission. We ask them to work together to implement the cross-selling process and leveraging the customer base of each company to introduce the product of the other’s company. So that’s very important for us when we do an acquisition, that the company and the owner in charge of the company could fit perfectly with this business model.
ID: The company has mentioned that the Tytan acquisition would enhance delivery and complement online ordering. Are you referring to the cross-selling opportunities here, or are there other things about the online business that were appealing?
CB: No, it was more focused on the online business and the online capability that Tytan already has because they have a transactional website and they are used to delivering from this website everywhere in Canada. So it will be a huge opportunity for us to leverage that, but it doesn’t mean that we will introduce, on this website, many products coming from the other product families, because we need to be recognized as a specialist. Tytan needs to retain its specialist position. So we could have more product on that, but we have to stay close to its historical product specialty.
ID: Can you provide any more detail about the company’s growth strategy in Canada specifically?
CB: The strategy is to continue to grow in the next year through acquisition in eastern Canada — mainly in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. And we also want to continue to grow in the north of the provinces, because there are many opportunities, especially in the mining business. We also want to continue to diversify our activities, especially in terms of customer base. For example, we were very resilient in 2025 because we were very diversified in terms of territory, product lines, and also customer base. We were able to grow globally despite the economic situation and the U.S. tariff situation.
We want to continue to diversify our activities. And we have also introduced one division — Ficodis ESP. This means, in general, service and projects. In this division, we are able to define, design, produce and install different custom-made solutions such as conveyors, conveying flight, and hydraulic power units. And so we have a design department, we have some manufacturing capabilities, and also people in the field that are able to install and repair those installations. So we want to push more of these types of activities, just to be able to provide to all our customer base with 100% custom-made solutions.
ID: Is D&C done in the safety segment? Do you feel like you have the depth that you need or will we expect to see more growth in this area from your company?
CB: No, with the support of the D&C groups, for sure, we’ll push the growth on this particular activity through acquisition, but also through organic growth. We want to implement our safety sales plan everywhere in the different locations.
This article originally appeared in the March/April issue of Industrial Distribution magazine. Sign up here to subscribe to ID’s Today in Industrial Distribution daily newsletter.
